“It’s been awesome,” Welch told The Phoenix in a phone interview Friday. “The attention, the support my friends and family and people like [the media] have shown me … it definitely gives me another confidence booster that I made the right choice.”

A native of southwest suburban Naperville, Welch received scholarship offers from high-major schools such as the University of Mississippi and Southern Illinois University. He’s listed as a three-star recruit on 247sports.com.

Welch is Loyola’s second commitment from the class of 2019. In June, three-star guard Paxson Wojcik announced his commitment to Loyola. Wojcik and Welch are teammates on the Illinois Wolves, an AAU team run by Mike Mullins. Mullins’ son, Bryan, is Loyola’s associate head coach.

Welch said Wojcik played a key role in his decision to attend Loyola.

“Once [Wojcik] committed, he was in my ear almost every day,” Welch said. “I got to room with him on some AAU trips and he kind of spoke things into existence. He did a really good job of recruiting me.”

Per NCAA rules, Loyola head coach Porter Moser can’t comment until the National Letter of Intent signing period begins Nov. 14.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Welch received an offer from Northwestern University.